Vulnerable at risk as local authority revamp set to push struggling councils to the brink

VITAL social care for older people and children is under threat due to Labour’s “revolution” in local government.

- By Jonathan Walker Whitehall Editor

Cash-strapped councils - already struggling to cope with soaring demand for care, the growing cost of special needs education and this year’s National Insurance rise — are now forced to spend scarce resources on expensive bureaucratic changes. Labour is axing district and borough councils in what it calls a “devolution revolution”, designed to pave the way for more giant regional larger ones [for] local government, [which] often provides the services which are closest to and matter most to people, including children and adult social services, roads and community-based services”.